KALAMAZOO, MI – Steve Hawkins was proud of his Western Michigan University basketball team’s effort during the Broncos’ rally from a double-digit deficit in the final 10 minutes Saturday afternoon.

That’s not to be confused with the coach feeling, in any way, satisfied following a tough loss to Ohio, 61-59, in the Broncos’ Mid-American Conference home opener at University Arena.

Hawkins wants the defeat against the defending MAC champion and 2012 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 participant to burn a little bit. No coddling allowed, not even for the Broncos’ youngsters, after WMU dipped to 0-2 in conference play. As soon as David Brown’s desperation heave from the deep right wing at the buzzer missed the mark, Hawkins wanted to see anger and hunger.

“I don’t want to keep their spirits up – I really don’t. … I told the kids in the locker room, if anybody smiles between now and Wednesday night, then they don’t belong in this uniform because when you fail at something in this world, it should really bother you until you have a chance to succeed again,” said Hawkins, whose Broncos (8-7) next host MAC West Division favorite Toledo at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“We didn’t get the job done tonight, and that has to burn until we explode, until we get a chance to explode again the next time we take the floor. I want them to get mad, I want them to get frustrated, and then I want them to play better. I want to finish around the rim, I want to play stronger. We need to play better, we need to rebound … everything, we need to do it better.”

Steve Hawkins

WMU surely could have shot better. Credit MAC East favorite Ohio (11-5, 2-0) for some of that, but the Broncos finished 15-of-53 from the floor (28.3 percent) compared to 21-of-51 (41.2 percent) for the Bobcats.

WMU outrebounded Ohio (40-38) and came out ahead in the turnover category (12, compared to the Bobcats’ 17) against an opponent that ranks eighth nationally in turnover margin.

The Broncos did some good things – many of them better than during their 65-43 MAC-opening loss Wednesday at Akron. Freshman point guard Jared Klein scored a career-best and game-high 18 points, 13 of them in the final 9 ½ minutes when WMU mounted a rally from a double-digit deficit. The 6-foot-2, former Otsego High School standout came off the bench and gave the Broncos a lift, as he added five rebounds, three assists and two steals against four turnovers.

The Broncos just could not hit shots. One of those misses was certainly rushed -- Brown’s long 3-point attempt at the final horn, after Ohio star senior point guard D.J. Cooper (16 points, six assists, five boards, two steals) split a pair of free throws with 6 seconds left.

“We weren’t hitting shots,” Klein said. “Coming off the Akron loss, we didn’t want to lose again, so we just had to kind of push through and battle back a little. I mean, they played good defense throughout, so that kind of helped (the Bobcats).

“We’ve got a couple lessons we’ve got to (learn) and we’ve got to come back Monday (in practice) and put everything we did wrong and fix it. This game really shows that every possession counts. You can’t have possessions back, even though we want them. We’ve got to value our possessions more.”

One of the Broncos’ empty possessions came with 1:47 left, after the Broncos had battled their way back from a 46-35 deficit less than nine minutes earlier. Klein hit a pair of free throws to pull WMU within 58-55 and the Broncos got a defensive stop, but he “just lost (the ball)” out of bounds near his own bench.

Klein quickly made amends. He hit two more free throws with 19 seconds left to bring WMU within 60-57, then 12 seconds later made a backcourt steal and layup off an uncharacteristic turnover by Cooper to make it a one-point game.

After WMU used its final timeout, Cooper hit one of two free-throw attempts. The Broncos quickly pushed the ball up the court. Brown was blocked on a drive, but the ball ended out bounds off Ohio. WMU had a chance for a quick heave, but did not get a great look.

“It’s tough. We didn’t have a timeout, so we just kind of threw something together and we ended up getting a chucked shot. The game didn’t come down to that. We need to make up those two points some time during the game,” said WMU senior guard Brandon Pokley, who scored eight points and helped keep Cooper – perhaps the top player in the MAC – in check for stretches defensively.

Klein finished 3-of-9 from the floor and 11-for-12 from the foul line. He finished with more minutes off the bench (22) than sophomore point guard Austin Richie played as a starter (18).

“We stopped getting some things off our patterns and our set plays. Ohio did a nice job with that, so then we’ve got to put some kids on the floor who are capable of making plays,” Hawkins said. “Jared Klein and David Brown were being very aggressive, and I felt like we had a chance to get to the free-throw line and just make a play a little bit better. Just a gut thing, while the game was on the fly.”

“To find a way to win, we had to try to grind for 40 minutes. I thought we did that,” said Bobcats coach Jim Christian, whose team used a key 5-0 spurt in the final 30 seconds of the first half en route to a 29-25 lead at the break. “I thought defensively, with the exception of excessive fouling, we played as well as possibly can play on the defensive end of the floor. …

“I think you have to give yourself a chance (with good defense). The one thing we did today, I thought, for the most part, was prevent easy baskets. With the exception of maybe one they got in transition, and a couple of bad rotations, they earned a lot of those.”

WMU is trying to keep the 0-2 MAC start in perspective, considering the competition level and fact that 14 conference games remain before the league tournament.

“Have a short memory – that’s all we can do,” Whittington said. “We just played against two of the best teams in the MAC. One team we dropped the ball, the other team we battled hard to the last second. I mean, we can take a lot from this. Come Monday and Tuesday, we’re going to fix our flaws.”